Category: The Meeting Place Online Discussion

Pope Leo 14th’s Encyclical Letter on AI was published on May 15th, 2026. Below is the AI summary (with apologies for the irony). Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical on artificial intelligence is Magnifica Humanitas (released May 25, 2026), an 82‑page document calling for AI to be “disarmed” and governed ethically to protect human dignity, prevent domination, and…

The May 7th local elections seem likely to produce a nationalist majority in both Wales and Scotland, though with no urgency for independence from either.  England looks to be polarising away from the centre (Labour or Conservative) towards Greens or Reform.  The key underlying question is a growing disillusionment with neo-liberalism since 2008 (except for…

John chapter 12 reports Greeks coming to the Jerusalem Passover Festival, asking to see Jesus.  He replies that his “hour” has now come, like grains of wheat which remain unproductive until they are sown in the earth and “die”.  This all means the “judgement” of this world, when the “ruler of this world will be…

The US and Israel’s attack on Iran has impacted families planning to fly via Gulf airports, the world price of oil and gas, but above all the people of Iran itself, Lebanon and the threat of other surrounding countries being dragged in.  And this from a President who once promised no forever wars or regime-changing…

“Don’t let your commitment to prophecy replace your commitment to follow Christ”, said Dr. Yohanna Katanacho, of Nazareth Evangelical College. “Following Christ” means learning to love your enemies, the only basis for a just solution in Israel-Palestine (see note 1).  To many “Prophecy” is a divinely-inspired prediction which must be literally fulfilled.  On that basis…

Unlike some countries (see note 1 below), the UK did not condemn President Trump’s kidnap of Maduro in Venezuela, but helped capture their “Russian” registered oil tanker- was this about international law, or keeping Trump “on side” over Ukraine?  His motives cannot be primarily about oil, with Venezuela’s reserves of 300 billion barrels heavy and…

  Edmund Newell[i] According to Godwin’s Law, as an online argument grows longer and more heated, the probability that someone will make a comparison involving Hitler or the Nazis increases to 1, at which point that person loses the argument. The recent surge in populism in many parts of the world has put Godwin’s Law…